Praise for Caroline Linden
Praise for At the Christmas Wedding
"Perfect seasonal fare – warm, light-hearted and perfectly romantic, laced with humour, filled with likeable principals and served up with a soupçon of Yuletide cheer and festive frolic."
—All About Romance
Praise for Map of a Lady’s Heart
“A truly warm and romantic tale.”
—Roses are Blue
Map of a Lady’s Heart
Caroline Linden
Caroline Linden
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by P.F. Belsley
Cover Design © 2019 Erin Dameron-Hill of
EDHProfessionals
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Let your heart be your compass…
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Afterword
Stay in Touch
Also by Caroline Linden
About the Author
Let your heart be your compass…
Practical and independent, Viola Cavendish knows how to handle trouble—and the Earl of Winterton is nothing but trouble. Not only does he arrive to see her employer, the Duke of Wessex, while the duke is away… with a rakish young nephew in tow, while Viola is responsible for chaperoning a party of young ladies… right before a blizzard strikes, leaving them snowbound in Kingstag Castle… mere days before Christmas… No, most troublesome of all is the fascinated way Winterton looks at her, as if she’s a bewitching woman and not just a secretary.
Wesley Morane, Lord Winterton, comes to Kingston Castle wanting one thing only: the atlas his father carried on his last journey. He’s not put off by a little snow, his rebellious nephew, or even the absence of the duke. What stymies Wes entirely is the beautiful Viola Cavendish, who disappoints his hopes, one by one—yet every time she smiles at him, the only map Wes craves is the one that will show him the way to her heart…
Originally published in At the Christmas Wedding
Prologue
Kingstag CastleDecember 1816
A storm was coming.
Viola Cavendish didn’t need to look at the sky to know it. She could recognize the signs, all of them ominous, converging upon Kingstag Castle. Even worse, she had a very bad feeling she might find herself at the middle of it.
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” said the Duchess of Wessex as she buttoned her fur-trimmed pelisse. The footmen were carrying down the duke’s and duchess’s traveling trunks, and the coach was outside the door. Viola could see the horses’ breath steaming in the cold air as they stood waiting to carry her employers away for at least a fortnight.
The duke and duchess weren’t supposed to leave for another month. The duchess’s sister, Mrs. Blair, was expecting her first child after Christmas, and everyone at Kingstag could talk of nothing else. Well—all the females at Kingstag were keenly interested in the baby, although Kingstag was mostly populated by females. Aside from the duchess, the castle held the duke’s mother, the dowager duchess; the duke’s three younger sisters, Serena, Alexandra, and Bridget; and an elderly relation, Lady Sophronia. Since Mr. Blair was a cousin to the Cavendish family, everyone felt some claim upon the child, but especially the duchess, who was eagerly anticipating the visit she planned to make when the child was born.
But yesterday an express letter had arrived from Mr. Blair, saying his wife’s labor pains had begun almost a month earlier than expected, and she was begging for the duchess to come as soon as possible. The duchess and her sister were extraordinarily close; without hesitation the duchess declared that she was leaving at once. The duke argued with her—Viola had been ordered from the room, which was rare—but in the end the duchess had prevailed, although only on the condition that the duke would go with her.
That was the moment Viola foresaw the coming storm. As the duchess’s personal secretary, she was privy to almost everything that went on in the castle, and there was quite a bit going on at present. Not only was it nearing Christmas, but houseguests were expected, and the dowager duchess was ill. With neither the duke nor the duchess in residence, the position of hostess would fall on Lady Serena, who was young and unaccustomed to presiding. The next ranking lady would be Lady Sophronia, but no one would dare leave her in charge. Lady Sophronia delighted in chaos and mischief , and she always claimed to be pining for a scandal.
Viola could smile at that when she believed the duchess or dowager duchess would be around to prevent anything untoward. Now, though, the dowager duchess was confined to bed with a cold, the duchess was leaving, and Viola had the horrible thought that she would end up responsible for whatever disaster ensued.
Not that she could ever express that thought aloud. Her job was to be confident and capable, no matter what was asked of her. That was why the duchess had hired her, and Viola wasn’t careless enough to let something like a house party unsettle her—at least not visibly. She gave a poised smile in response to the duchess’s assurance that all would be well. “Of course, Your Grace.”
“The dowager duchess will surely be on her feet again in a day or two,” her employer went on. “Serena’s friends are delightful young ladies and I’m sure they’ll be no trouble.” She paused. “You might have to keep a close eye on Bridget.”
Viola fought back a laugh. Bridget was the duke’s youngest sister, and could be charitably described as high-spirited. Most of the trouble in the castle could be traced to Bridget.
On the
